We Launch a 1-Year training plan in August

In the first week of August, Blue Ox will kick off a yearly training plan built around 6 benchmarks. Scott and I believe if you train these 6 benchmarks year after year, you’ll become a capable and generally happier human being. The schedule and details are at the end of this email.

Over the next two weeks, Scott will explain why we are measuring these 6 benchmarks every year. Stay tuned!

These benchmarks are also the building blocks of community at Blue Ox Athletics.

Over the years, members of all different ages, backgrounds, and training goals have told me that community is what makes the gym special.

So what really is “community” at the gym?

I have asked dozens of people and received dozens of different answers. The most popular answers point to social elements like potlucks, community hours, karaoke, and when everybody knows your name ♫♫♫♫

These social elements are expressions and benefits of a community and they appear naturally when a community is created. They certainly are important for community building but they are not the unifying thread that holds a community together.

In order to create community, we need to first define it at Blue Ox Athletics. We are defining community as members training together towards a common goal.

Everyone is here because they want to improve themselves in some way. Whether your motivation is to lose weight, to do a pull up, or age well with strength, we are all in this together. From the beginner doing their first pushup to the experienced getting their first muscle up, we understand each other’s struggles and can share in the sense of accomplishment together.

I have yet to meet a person who prefers to train alone. When we train together, we realize how other people working hard motivates us. We feel their support through a word, a supportive phrase, a fist bump, and we feel connected, encouraged, and stronger. We feel safe to try something new and fail. We feel the extra boost of confidence when praised for our achievements.

This is how Scott and I envision our community at Blue Ox Athletics and why we feel these 6 benchmarks are important. We already have members training together and these benchmarks will become a physical representation of our common goal.

These are the 6 benchmarks. Every 2 months starting in August, we will do a few of them and will have completed all of them after 6 months. After that, we start looping back to a benchmark you have done before so you can measure progress.

From a training standpoint, these benchmarks give you something to strive for. They are also not “Pass/Fail”. For example, a 400# squat might not be in the cards for everyone, but we can all try to improve our squat.

Also, we certainly will not only train to the test. Meaning, the training program & movements in class will not suddenly become only about these 6 benchmarks.

As I mentioned earlier, over the next two weeks Scott will explain why we are measuring these 6 benchmarks every year.

Thanks for reading this far! I expect you have questions and feel to contact me or speak to the coaches in class.